The Electronic Sports League, often abbreviated ESL, is an eSports league founded in 1997. It has over 2 600 000 registered members, thus being one of the biggest gaming leagues, and organises several StarCraft II events.

The ESL, which is a brand that belongs to Turtle Entertainment GmbH, is nowadays present in 37 countries. Each sections of ESL are operated by ventures under a license granted by Turtle Entertainment GmbH. These sections could correspond to a country, (like ESL Germany for instance), or to a group of low-demography countries (like ESL Nordic for Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark).

On November 1, 2011, the Electronic Sports League came under scrutiny regarding the issue of delayed payment of prizes.[1] Several professional players stated that ESL was among tournament organisations which delay the payment of prize money up to eighteen months after competition.[2]FXOpen's staff stated that their policy was to not send for their players to compete at IEM events because of the uncertainty in receiving prize money.[3]IdrA claimed that, while ESL typically makes prize payments after a long delay, they eventually always pay what is owed.[4] Michal "Carmac" Blicharz, ESL Progaming Director, stated that ESL was on schedule with prize money payout for IEM events and that ESL remains on pace to deliver prize payments for IEM tournaments within three months of competition.[5]

The ESL Pro Series, commonly abbreviated EPS, are StarCraft 2 national leagues held and organized by Electronic Sports League. The format is group stage followed by playoffs, and each national series have its own specificities. Players are allowed to participate only if they reside in the country/countries where the series are held.